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POSSESSION 


BY 


ADAM  H.  DICKEY,  C.S.D. 


9V  T 

THE 

CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY 

FALMOUTH  AND  ST.  PAUL  STREETS 

BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 

U.  S.  A. 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
The  Christian  Science  Publishing  Society 


POSSESSION 

There  is  a  belief  among  mortals 
that  they  can  become  the  privileged 
possessors  or  owners  of  something. 
When  through  the  usual  process  of 
law  a  man  acquires  real  estate,  he 
has  a  strong  desire  to  erect  a  fence 
around  it  and  to  keep  everybody  else 
away.  Then  follows  the  belief  which 
is  universally  acknowledged,  that  he 
owns  a  certain  amount  of  the  earth's 
surface  and  that  the  law  protects  and 
defends  him  in  private  possession 
thereof.  He  builds  a  house  and  oc- 
cupies it,  calls  it  his  own,  and  no  one 
is  permitted  to  approach  or  to  enter 
it  contrary  to  his  wishes  without 
being  considered  a  trespasser.  In 
our  present  degree  of  development  it 
is  generally  understood  that  property 
is  something  which  should  have  an 
owner;  that  the  earth  and  all  that  is 
contained   therein   may   be   divided 

369554 


*  POSSESSION 

into  parts  and  parcels,  and  that  dif- 
ferent individuals  may  claim  posses- 
sion of  more  or  less  of  it  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  others.  All  this,  however,  is 
based  on  the  supposition  that  matter 
is  substance  and  that  man  is  the  pro- 
prietor of  it. 

Through  the  illusive  processes  of 
mortal  belief  truth  is  apparently  re- 
versed; thoughts  are  externalized 
into  things,  and  these  things  are 
claimed,  held,  and  dominated  by  in- 
dividuals. Some  people  have  a  large 
amount  of  property,  others  a  little, 
while  a  great  many  have  none  at  all. 
This  apparently  unequal  distribution 
of  material  possessions  fosters  envy, 
jealousy,  and  strife,  often  provoking 
the  one  who  finds  himself  deprived 
of  his  heart's  desire  into  the  use  of 
questionable  means,  if  not  of  phys- 
ical force,  to  gain  his  object.  It 
would  be  safe  to  say  that  nine  tenths 
of  all  the  war  and  contention  in  the 


POSSESSION  5 

world  has  been  inaugurated  and  car- 
ried on  because  of  the  invasion  of 
so-called  property  rights,  or  because 
of  a  desire  to  extend  material  posses- 
sion or  dominion. 

Just  as  soon  as  a  man  finds  him- 
self in  possession  of  a  certain  amount 
of  matter, — of  houses  or  lands,  of 
stocks  or  bonds, — he  is  besieged  by 
a  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for 
his  wealth  and  a  fear  that  he  may  at 
some  time  be  dispossessed  of  it.  The 
whole  system  of  property  rights  and 
of  the  division  of  property  is  based 
upon  the  supposed  substantiality  of 
matter,  an  illusion  which  some  day 
must  be  dispelled  by  the  law  of  God, 
which  declares  that  Mind  is  the  only 
substance.  This  change  may  not 
be  brought  about  all  at  once,  but 
through  right  thinking  and  conduct 
there  will  in  due  time  be  established 
the  true  concept,  namely,  that  "the 
earth   is   the  Lord's,   and   the   ful- 


6  POSSESSION 

ness  thereof."  Rightfully  speaking, 
everything  in  this  world  belongs  to 
God,  and  through  reflection  belongs 
also  to  man,  who  is  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God.  When  we  have 
reached  the  point  in  our  demonstra- 
tion where  we  can  resolve  things  into 
thoughts,  the  multiplication  of  these 
thoughts  will  be  possible,  so  that 
every  individual  may  reflect  and 
possess  all  that  belongs  to  his  Maker. 
In  some  lines  of  thought  this  ideal 
condition  already  prevails;  for  ex- 
ample, in  mathematics.  Let  us  sup- 
pose that  the  figures  used  in  making 
calculations,  instead  of  being  ac- 
cepted as  thoughts,  were  regarded 
as  material  objects.  In  such  a  case 
every  mathematician  or  accountant 
would  have  to  provide  himself  with 
a  supply  of  figures,  which  would  per- 
haps be  made  of  some  durable  ma- 
terial like  wood  or  iron,  and  which  he 
would  keep  on  a  shelf  or  locked  in 


POSSESSION  7 

a  drawer.  When  the  mathematician 
wished  to  use  the  figures  he  would 
take  them  out,  arrange  them  in  their 
proper  order,  and  be  enabled  thereby 
to  work  out  his  problems. 

If  in  a  busy  season  the  account- 
ant's supply  of  figures  should  be- 
come exhausted,  he  would  have  to 
purchase  more  or  perhaps  borrow 
them  from  his  neighbor.  He  might 
approach  a  fellow  worker  and  say, 
"I  wish  you  would  lend  me  two  or 
three  fives  and  a  few  sevens  this 
morning;  I  am  out  of  these  figures." 
His  friend  might  reply,  "I  am  sorry, 
but  I  have  been  using  so  many  fives 
and  sevens  lately  in  my  work  that  I 
need  all  I  have  and  cannot  accom- 
modate you."  There  might  even  be 
a  shortage  in  figures  which  would 
affect  the  whole  population,  and 
there  would  be  a  scramble  for  a  sup- 
ply. The  price  of  figures  would  ad- 
vance, and  if  people  really  believed 


8  POSSESSION 

that  these  objects  were  a  necessity, 
there  would  be  such  brisk  competi- 
tion that  the  price  of  enough  figures 
to  do  business  with  would  be  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  cost  of  their 
production,  and  many  people  would 
have  to  do  without  them. 

This  condition  of  affairs,  however, 
is  impossible  because  of  the  fact  that 
figures  instead  of  being  things  are 
thoughts,  and  as  such  are  everywhere 
present  without  limit  or  restriction. 
No  contrivance  of  mortal  mind  nor 
any  scheme  of  manipulators  can 
take  away  from  us  one  single  figure 
or  deprive  us  of  instantaneous  access 
to  all  that  we  can  possibly  have  use 
for.  No  war  has  ever  been  declared 
because  one  nation  has  attempted  to 
appropriate  more  than  its  share  of 
the  multiplication  table,  nor  has  any 
man  been  found  guilty  of  using  fig- 
ures which  he  has  surreptitiously 
taken  from  his  neighbor. 


POSSESSION  9 

Figures  are  not  things  but 
thoughts;  they  are  mental  concepts, 
and  as  such  they  are  available  to 
everybody.  Sometime  it  will  be 
realized  that  not  only  is  this  true 
with  regard  to  figures,  but  that  every 
so-called  material  object  in  the  uni- 
verse is  but  the  counterfeit  of  some 
divine  idea  and  not  what  mortal 
mind  represents  it  to  be.  The  time 
will  come  when  mortal  mind  will 
abandon  its  belief  that  ideas  are  rep- 
resented by  material  objects,  and 
when  this  time  arrives  there  will  be 
no  fear  of  loss  of,  or  damage  to,  that 
which  we  understand  to  be  an  idea 
and  not  a  thing.  We  shall  then  be 
able  to  realize  what  Jesus  meant 
when  he  said,  "Lay  not  up  for  your- 
selves treasures  upon  earth,  where 
moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and 
where  thieves  break  through  and 
steal:  but  lay  up  for  yourselves 
treasures    [right  ideas]    in  heaven, 


10  POSSESSION 

where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth 
corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not 
break  through  nor  steal." 

You  may  ask  what  all  this  has  to 
do  with  our  present  demonstration. 
A  great  deal.  Christian  Scientists 
may  add  to  their  peace  of  mind 
and  freedom  from  responsibility  by 
thinking  along  right  lines  and  en- 
deavoring to  put  into  immediate 
practice  the  teachings  of  Christian 
Science.  If  a  man  is  engaged  in  a 
business  which  he  believes  to  be  his 
own,  of  which  he  thinks  he  is  the 
creator  and  proprietor,  and  for  the 
success  of  which  he  deems  himself 
personally  responsible,  there  may  be 
a  great  sense  of  burden  attaching  to 
his  position.  He  may  suffer  from 
poor  business,  loss  of  trade,  or  any 
of  the  beliefs  which  go  with  his  par- 
ticular occupation  or  profession;  so 
long  as  he  feels  that  the  business 
belongs  exclusively  to  him,  he  will 


POSSESSION  11 

never  be  free  from  some  of  the 
countless  beliefs  that  are  supposed 
to  affect  trade  in  general  and  his 
occupation  in  particular.  The  rem- 
edy for  this  condition  is  for  the  man 
to  begin  to  declare  and  to  know  that 
all  is  Mind  and  Mind's  ideas;  that 
there  is  nothing  whatever  about  his 
business  that  is  limited  or  material. 
If  God  is  the  creator  of  all,  and  if 
everything  in  the  universe  belongs 
to  Him,  then  this  business  which  the 
man  calls  his  own  is  really  God's, 
and  the  man  becomes  the  master  of 
it  only  to  the  degree  that  he  con- 
forms his  thoughts  and  his  daily 
transactions  to  the  law  of  God.  If 
he  recognizes  this,  and  applies  his 
understanding  of  the  Principle  of 
Christian  Science  to  his  work,  his 
fear  and  uncertainty  will  vanish.  He 
will  find  himself  conducting  and  car- 
rying on  business  in  the  manner  God 
requires  it  to  be  done,  and  he  will 


12  POSSESSION 

exercise  dominion  and  control  over 
it  just  to  the  extent  that  he  places 
himself  under  the  unerring  direction 
of  divine  Mind. 

If  a  woman  considers  herself  the 
owner  of  a  home  and  that  every- 
thing in  it  is  hers;  if  she  believes 
she  has  furniture  and  fixtures  which 
are  her  personal  property;  if  she 
feels  that  she  has  servants  to  manage 
and  that  she  must  assume  personal 
control  over  them  as  well  as  over 
every  other  household  accessory,  she 
may  become  so  burdened  with  re- 
sponsibility as  to  find  herself  utterly 
inadequate  to  control  the  situation. 
But  if  she  is  willing  to  accept  God 
as  the  ruler  of  her  household,  to 
convert  things  into  thoughts  and  to 
understand  that  "all  things  were 
made  by  him;  and  without  him  was 
not  anything  made  that  was  made;" 
if  she  can  realize  that  divine  intelli- 
gence governs  and  controls  her  serv- 


POSSESSION  13 

ants,  her  house  and  everything  that 
is  contained  therein,  she  will  imme- 
diately lose  all  sense  of  care,  fear, 
and  confusion,  and  find  that  the 
divine  law  of  peace  and  harmony 
has  taken  possession  of  her  house- 
hold and  manages  it.  If  she  realizes 
that  the  servants  are  working  for 
God  and  not  for  her,  that  everything 
about  the  house  is  designed  to  bring 
out  and  express  the  law  of  perfec- 
tion, things  will  run  much  more 
smoothly  for  all  connected  with  this 
establishment,  and  peace  and  joy 
will  come  to  all  who  enter  therein. 

There  is  another  phase  of  posses- 
sion which  is  perhaps  one  of  the 
strongest  of  mortal  beliefs.  Parents 
believe  they  are  the  privileged  cre- 
ators of  something;  that  they  can 
usurp  the  creative  power  of  divine 
Mind  and  have  children  of  their 
own,  for  whose  bringing  up,  educa- 
tion,  and   future  welfare  they  are 


14  POSSESSION 

entirely  responsible.  This  feeling 
on  the  part  of  parents  opens  the  door 
wide  to  the  suggestion  of  failure, 
and  the  trials  and  tribulations  which 
are  supposed  to  go  with  the  owner- 
ship and  control  of  children  assail 
them  from  every  side.  They  must 
learn  that  God  is  the  only  Father 
and  the  only  Mother;  that  man  is 
the  offspring  of  God;  that  he  is  not 
physical  and  material,  but  spiritual, 
reflecting  and  expressing  the  wis- 
dom, love,  and  intelligence  of  infi- 
nite being.  As  soon  as  this  line  of 
thought  is  touched  upon,  the  false 
sense  of  responsibility  which  mortal 
mind  has  placed  upon  parents  is 
taken  away,  and  they  can  then  in 
the  right  way  trust  God  to  take  care 
of  their  children,  knowing  that  noth- 
ing can  interfere  with  the  harmoni- 
ous results  which  accompany  divine 
protection. 

All  belongs  to  God;   nothing  be- 


POSSESSION  15 

longs  to  us.  Man  is  neither  a  creator 
nor  an  owner.  As  Christian  Scien- 
tists we  can  begin  the  realization  of 
this  at  once,  and  the  results  will  be 
speedy  and  satisfactory.  But  when 
we  relinquish  all  thought  of  personal 
possession,  this  does  not  mean  that 
we  must  sacrifice  everything  we  hold 
dear  or  that  we  shall  really  be  de- 
prived of  anything.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  means  that  through  an  in- 
creased understanding  that  all  is 
Mind  and  the  ideas  of  Mind  we  shall 
gradually  come  into  possession  of  all 
that  is  worth  while.  This  is  surely 
a  more  gratifying  way  to  bring  God 
into  our  experience  than  to  cling  to 
the  old  material  illusions.  The  mere 
act  of  surrendering  something  is  not 
in  itself  a  virtue,  nor  is  there  any- 
thing to  be  gained  by  assuming  a 
false  sense  of  humility.  It  is  true 
that  there  is  much  to  give  up,  but  it 
is  always  the  old,  unsatisfactory  be- 


16  POSSESSION 

liefs  which  we  are  parting  with,  and 
as  these  disappear  they  are  sup- 
planted by  right  ideas,  which  give 
to  us  a  greater  sense  of  freedom, 
power,  and  possession  than  we  ever 
had  before. 

What  did  Jesus  mean  by  the  state- 
ment, "He  that  hath,  to  him  shall  be 
given:  and  he  that  hath  not,  from 
him  shall  be  taken  even  that  which 
he  hath"?  Why,  this:  that  the  one 
who  has  the  right  idea  is  really  the 
one  that  "hath,"  and  his  possessions 
are  bound  to  increase;  while  the  one 
who  has  the  wrong  thought  is  the 
one  that  "hath  not,"  and  he  must  of 
necessity  lose  even  that  which  he 
seems  to  have.  What  we  need  to  do, 
then,  is  to  change  our  method  of 
thinking.  Jesus'  saying,  "Seek  ye 
first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his 
righteousness;  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you,"  is  made  pos- 
sible only  through  Christian  Science. 


POSSESSION  IT 

On  page  62  of  "Miscellaneous 
Votings,"  our  Leader  says,  "Hold- 
ig  the  right  idea  of  man  in  my 
lind,  I  can  improve  my  own,  and 
>ther  people's  individuality,  health, 
md  morals."  All  things  are  accom- 
)lished  through  the  right  idea,  which 
isserts  itself  in  human  copscious- 
less  and  dispossesses  us  of  our  false 
)eliefs.  The  only  thing  that  can 
lappen  to  the  human  sense  of  things 
s  that  it  disappears  in  exactly  the 
>roportion  that  we  apprehend  the 
ight  idea. 

It  is  a  law  of  metaphysics  that 
hought  externalizes  itself.  There- 
ore  the  right  idea  in  Christian 
Science  naturally  expands  into  ex- 
>ression  and  brings  thought  into  a 
lemonstration.  When  we  attain  the 
tandpoint  from  which  we  can  see  all 
naterial  things  as  beliefs  only,  and 
hat  these  beliefs  can  be  transformed 
md  improved  through  holding  the 


18  POSSESSION 

right  idea,  we  shall  then  begin  to 
bring  into  our  experience  the  things 
referred  to  by  Paul  when  he  said, 
"Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart 
of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath 
prepared  for  them  that  love  him." 

Another  line  of  thought  which  sug- 
gests itself  at  this  juncture,  is  that 
mortals  believe  they  are  in  posses- 
sion of  a  mind  which  they  call  their 
own,  and  that  they  can  think  and 
will  as  they  please  with  respect  to 
this  mind.  This  belief  leads  to  an- 
other erroneous  conclusion,  namely, 
that  we  are  in  possession  of  a 
body  of  our  own,  that  we  have  per- 
sonal eyes,  ears,  lungs,  and  a  private 
stomach,  all  of  which  we  believe  to 
be  material,  and  for  the  well-being 
of  which  we  are  responsible.  When 
this  error  takes  possession  of  us,  the 
next  thing  that  mortal  mind  claims 
is  an  ability  to  deprive  us  of  sight, 


POSSESSION  19 

hearing,  et  cetera,  and  that  our 
stomach  can  become  disordered  or 
diseased.  This  is  all  the  result  of  be- 
lieving in  another  creator  besides 
God,  another  intelligence  and  power 
to  which  we  yield  obedience.  "Know 
ye  not,"  Paul  says,  "that  to  whom 
ye  yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey, 
his  servants  ye  are  to  whom  ye 
obey."  The  only  remedy  for  the  ills 
of  the  flesh  is  to  correct  the  false 
beliefs  that  produce  them  by  intro- 
ducing the  right  idea.  On  page  415 
of  Science  and  Health  our  Leader 
says:  "Note  how  thought  makes  the 
face  pallid.  It  either  retards  the  cir- 
culation or  quickens  it,  causing  a 
pale  or  flushed  cheek.  In  the  same 
way  thought  increases  or  diminishes 
the  secretions,  the  action  of  the 
lungs,  of  the  bowels,  and  of  the 
heart.  The  muscles,  moving  quickly 
or  slowly  and  impelled  or  palsied  by 
thought,  represent  the  action  of  ail 


20  POSSESSION 

the  organs  of  the  human  system, .in- 
cluding brain  and  viscera.  To  re- 
move the  error  producing  disorder, 
you  must  calm  and  instruct  mortal 
mind  with  immortal  Truth." 

In  mortal  mind's  method  of  think- 
ing, thoughts  are  externalized  as 
matter  and  are  called  the  body. 
When  we  understand  this,  and  grasp 
what  Mrs.  Eddy  teaches  in  regard  to 
the  externalization  of  thought,  we 
shall  see  that  our  bodies  are  nothing 
more  or  less  than  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  our  thought.  Therefore, 
to  heal  what  seems  to  be  a  diseased 
condition  of  the  body,  we  must  drop 
all  thought  of  it  as  being  material 
and  recognize  it  as  a  purely  mental 
product,  an  objectified  condition 
of  material  sense,  the  correction  of 
which,  by  replacing  the  false  belief 
with  the  spiritual  idea,  will  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  God  produce  health 
and  harmony. 


POSSESSION  21 

God  is  the  only  creator,  and  all 
that  He  creates  must  be  like  Him- 
self. Man  is  the  individualized  ag- 
gregation of  right  ideas,  the  com- 
pound idea  of  God  which  includes 
these  right  ideas.  Knowing  is  being; 
"for  God  to  know  is  to  be"  (No  and 
Yes,  p.  16).  Therefore  what  man 
knows  of  God  constitutes  his  being, 
and  the  consciousness  of  man  con- 
sists only  of  the  knowing  of  those 
right  ideas  which  already  exist  in 
the  mind  of  God.  It  is  scientifically 
impossible  to  put  a  wrong  thought 
into  consciousness,  and  there  can  be 
no  imperfection  in  Mind,  since  what- 
ever God  knows  is  perfect  and  in- 
violable and  can  never  be  changed 
or  altered  in  any  way.  Nothing  ex- 
ists but  God  and  what  God  creates, 
consequently  there  is  only  one  right 
idea  of  anything.  "The  divine  Mind 
maintains  all  identities,  from  a 
blade  of  grass  to  a  star,  as  distinct 


22  POSSESSION 

and  eternal"    (Science  and  Health, 
p.  70). 

Mortal  belief  in  its  endeavor  to 
see  materially  creates  the  human  eye 
and  declares  it  to  be  the  organ  of 
sight,  while  in  reality  sight  is  a  qual- 
ity of  Mind,  entirely  independent  of 
iris,  pupil,  lens,  or  other  parts  com- 
prising the  visual  organism.  When 
Jesus  said  that  "the  light  of  the  body 
is  the  eye,"  he  was  not  referring  to 
a  material  eye,  but  to  a  mental  con- 
dition. Hence  what  Mind  knows 
about  the  thing  we  call  eye  is  all 
there  is  to  it.  This  is  also  true  in 
regard  to  what  mortal  mind  calls 
heart,  liver,  lungs,  and  all  else  that 
goes  to  make  up  the  so-called  mate- 
rial body.  Mortal  mind  claims  that 
man  is  organized  matter,  but  mortal 
mind's  beliefs  are  not  substantive, 
and  the  fact  remains  that  the  only 
organization  there  is  or  ever  can  be, 
is  that  compound  spiritual  idea  of 


POSSESSION  23 

which  this  material  organism  is  the 
counterfeit.  Inasmuch  as  there  can 
be  only  one  right  idea  of  everything, 
there  is  only  one  right  concept  of 
stomach.  It  is  not  made  of  matter; 
it  is  not  a  material  thing.  It  is  a 
mental  concept,  and  as  such  has  its 
rightful  place  in  the  divine  Mind. 
Any  other  concept  of  stomach  is 
false  and  misleading,  and  must  even- 
tually be  destroyed.  "Every  object 
in  material  thought  will  be  de- 
stroyed, but  the  spiritual  idea,  whose 
substance  is  in  Mind,  is  eternal" 
(Science  and  Health,  p.  267). 

It  is  time  for  Christian  Scientists 
to  stop  trying  to  doctor  sick  organs 
and  devote  themselves  to  exchanging 
their  imperfect  models  for  better  and 
more  improved  beliefs,  which  is  the 
only  true  method  of  healing.  God 
is  the  law  of  health  and  harmony  to». 
all  His  own  ideas,  and  not  only  is 
this  true,  but  the  law  of  God  which 


24  POSSESSION 

governs  the  perfect  spiritual  idea  is 
also  the  law  of  perfection  to  the 
human  belief  of  things,  and  this 
extends  to  every  organ  of  the 
human  system.  Whatever  God 
knows  about  hand,  eye,  foot,  is  all 
there  is  to  know  about  them.  He 
knows  that  they  are  not  material, 
but  that  they  are  perfect,  har- 
monious, and  useful  ideas,  and  that 
their  identity  is  distinct  and  eternal. 
If  a  man  has  the  wrong  concept  of 
hand,  eye,  foot,  his  only  salvation 
is  to  get  the  right  idea  concerning 
these  useful  members.  If  his  body 
should  be  injured,  it  would  be  his 
concept  of  body  that  is  affected,  not 
God's,  and  the  remedy  is  for  him 
quickly  to  give  up  his  erroneous  be- 
lief of  body  and  acquaint  himself 
with  God's  idea.  "Acquaint  now 
thyself  with  him  [God],  and  be  at 
peace." 

On  page  218  of  Miscellany  Mrs, 


POSSESSION  25 

Eddy  writes:  "Neither  the  Old  nor 
the  New  Testament  furnishes  rea- 
sons or  examples  for  the  destruction 
of  the  human  body,  but  for  its  res- 
toration to  life  and  health  as  the 
scientific  proof  of  'God  with  us.' 
The  power  and  prerogative  of  Truth 
are  to  destroy  all  disease  and  to  raise 
the  dead — even  the 'self-same  Laza- 
rus. The  spiritual  body,  the  incor- 
poreal idea,  came  with  the  ascen- 
sion" # 

We  can  have  no  other  body  than 
the  one  perfect  incorporeal  idea. 
Man  being  the  compound  idea  of 
God,  it  naturally  follows  that  every- 
thing which  is  included  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  man  must  be  spiritual 
and  perfect,  or  it  is  not  the  con- 
sciousness that  God  knows  and 
which  man  should  have.  Matter 
can  never  be  spiritualized;  but  our 
mistaken  belief  which  presents  itself 
as  matter  can  be  corrected  and  thus 


26  POSSESSION 

spiritualized.  To  heal  an  imperfect 
heart,  which  is  simply  a  wrong  belief 
of  heart,  one  must  repudiate  the  tes- 
timony of  material  sense  and  claim 
the  presence  of  God's  idea,  in  order 
to  improve  his  false  concept.  It  is 
not  necessary  that  he  should  know 
just  what  the  divine  idea  back 
of  the  human  belief  of  heart  is. 
All  he  needs  to  know  is  that  his 
mistaken  sense  of  heart,  which 
appears  to  be  material,  is  not  the 
right  one.  There  is  a  right  idea 
of  God  of  which  the  human  belief 
of  heart  is  the  counterfeit,  and  that 
idea  of  God  is  present  now  and  here 
and  there  is  no  other.  If  a  man  has 
an  unhealthy  belief  of  stomach,  the 
only  remedy  is  to  recognize  the 
falsity  of  all  that  mortal  mind  says 
about  stomach  and  claim  possession 
of  God's  idea,  which  is  the  only  per- 
fect reality. 

All  sickness  is  due  to  a  wrong  be- 


POSSESSION  27 

lief  of  things,  and  the  only  remedy 
is  to  get  the  right  idea.  Because 
there  is  a  right  idea  of  heart  and  a 
right  idea  of  stomach,  we  can  under- 
stand what  our  Leader  means  when 
she  says,  "Divine  Science  .  .  .  ex- 
cludes matter,  resolves  things  into 
thoughts,  and  replaces  the  objects  of 
material  sense  with  spiritual  ideas" 
(Science  and  Health,  p.  123).  If 
there  were  no  spiritual  ideas  with 
which  to  replace  objects  of  material 
sense,  our  diseased  beliefs  could 
never  be  corrected  and  our  bodies 
could  not  be  scientifically  healed. 
God  is  not  separate  from  His  ideas; 
the  spiritual  idea  of  anything  is  al- 
ways present  and  carries  with  it  the 
power  and  activity  of  infinite  Mind, 
and  when  this  spiritual  idea  is 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  false  be- 
lief, it  produces  a  harmonious  result. 
If  it  is  true  that  a  wrong  belief 
concerning  body  manifests  itself  as 


28  POSSESSION 

a  disordered  material  condition,  then 
the  right  idea  which  corrects  the 
false  belief  must  produce  an  im- 
proved physical  manifestation.  We 
can  never  heal  by  attempting  to  ex- 
ercise the  power  of  Truth  on  a  sick 
body.  It  is  the  exercise  of  the  power 
of  Truth  on  a  belief  of  sickness  that 
produces  the  healing  results. 

Christian  Science  is  an  exact  sci- 
ence, and  as  such  it  will  permit  of 
no  deviation  from  its  Principle  and 
rule.  It  demands  that  the  student, 
in  order  to  demonstrate  its  truth, 
must  be  able  to  meet  its  require- 
ments. Jesus  said,  "Ye  shall  know 
the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make 
you  free."  Then  a  knowledge  of 
the  truth  of  what  Christian  Science 
teaches  is  absolutely  necessary  to  its 
demonstration. 

We  are  all  laboring  more  or  less 
under  the  belief  that  man  is  a  human 
being  separated  from  his  creator,  with 


POSSESSION  29 

a  mind  and  an  intelligence  all  his 
own.  This  belief  must  be  destroyed, 
and  the  only  way  to  accomplish  its 
destruction  is  by  constantly  holding 
in  thought  the  right  idea  and  by  de- 
claring the  presence  and  activity  of 
all  the  ideas  of  God.  As  these  ideas 
become  more  real  to  us  the  so-called 
human  mind  will  disappear  and  we 
shall  find  ourselves  growing  more 
like  Him, — more  like  infinite  wis- 
dom, more  like  Truth  and  Love. 
Then  it  shall  come  to  pass  as  is  writ- 
ten by  the  prophet,  "The  earth  shall 
be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord, 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

Adam  H.  Dickey,  C.S.D. 


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